O-acetylhomoserine acts as a precursor of methionine, which is a kind of essential amino acid in the body. Methionine is used not only as an additive for feeds and foods but also as a raw material for infusion solutions and pharmaceutical drugs.
Methionine is produced by chemical and biological syntheses. Recently, a two-step process for producing L-methionine from an L-methionine precursor, which was produced via fermentation, by enzymatic conversion was published (International Publication No. WO 2008/013432).
The two-step process employs O-succinylhomoserine and O-acetylhomoserine as precursors, and it is very important to produce O-acetylhomoserine in high yield for the purpose of economical mass production.